Spot Me
by Vietta
Summary: Elena is going on a mission and Rude helps her prepare.


Elena sprinted through the obstacle course of a track she had set up in the gym, her heart pounding in her ears and her lungs choking in her chest as she hurled herself over one of the many hurdles she had scattered across the lengthy track. She spun and hurdled the bar again, not satisfied with the way she had run through her course the first time. If she was going to use her upcoming mission to her full advantage she had to be more physically prepared than ever. It wasn't every day that Tseng let Elena out of the office and even rarer that he would give her a mission that required more physical exertion than espionage. He had grudgingly allowed her a week to train for the mission he had had to assign her to fill her quota of missions before the end of the year, and she felt that he was coddling her. In fact, he still treated her like a delicate rookie despite all he had seen her do over the years she had worked under him. A whole week to train for a three day mission in Wutai? Most Turks got their mission and left on the same day with possibly one to two hours to prepare! Reno and Rude were sent on dangerous missions almost as soon as they were able to land their helicopter at the Shinra building, tell Tseng whether the mission was successful or not, and grab their next assignment. Elena wanted to be a well-worked Turk instead of being slave to the paperwork the others left undone when they went on exciting and dangerous missions. She wanted to be a Turk who didn't have anyone doubting their ability to obliterate a small city with the push of a button or to take down an enemy twice her size and strength. She was just as strong-willed as every Turk regularly sent on missions, maybe even more so because of her underdog status in the team.

Elena knew she wasn't allowed to prove the power of her will because Tseng thought she wasn't strong enough, but he ought to know better than to coddle her. They had been through hell together when the Remnants had taken them captive and, if she remembered correctly, they had spent more time torturing her to get to Tseng than they had spent torturing him. Perhaps that was why Tseng coddled her? Because he had seen horrific things done to her because he wouldn't loosen his tongue to betray Rufus? She knew that it had meant that he valued Rufus' orders over her life, but wasn't that how all Turks were supposed to act? Elena hadn't spilled any information either, so she didn't find any fault in what Tseng had done, but she knew Tseng could remember her begging him to make them stop, and she knew he remembered it well. Perhaps her slip ups in strength then had caused him to doubt her strength now, nearly two years after the fact?

Elena panted as she came to a stop, wiping her brow on the back of her arm. She was frustrated and tired, but she wasn't going to cave to her exhaustion yet. She knew she had a second wind in her somewhere, all she had to do was let it breeze it's way out of her. She let her thoughts of doubt from the others turn to self-doubt as she made her way to the weight room, powdering her hands in the flour bowl beside the door before doing her stretching and beginning to lift. Had she really exhibited such weakness two years ago that Tseng still felt the need to keep her close to home?

Elena lay back on the padded bench where she had started her weight lifting workout, laying still for a moment to contemplate the bar above her. Tseng had to have recognized the fact that she had grown stronger since the incident with Kadaj and his twisted brothers; she was so much stronger than she had been back then. Back then the bar sitting in front of her face would have had only forty-five pounds total on it; the one she sat under now weighed a total of one-hundred and seventy-five pounds. She could now lift fifty-five pounds more than she weighed. Wasn't that an accomplishment? Didn't that prove she had strength in her? She grasped the bar above her face again, deciding that another repitition was required before she could move on to her next exercise. She lifted the bar and began pulling and pushing it to and from her chest, respectively. She nearly dropped the entire thing on herself when a cough echoed through the previously silent weight room. She quickly slipped the bar onto the rack and sat up, startled by the intrusion to her brooding silence.

Rude smiled and floured his hands. "You know you're not supposed to be in here without a spotter, Elena."

"Did you bring a spotter, Rude?" Elena frowned, her neatly plucked eyebrows touching together just above her frown-wrinkled nose.

"No, but I'm above the rules. My normal spotter broke his arm." Rude stretched lithely, his bulky muscles moving with smooth fluidity as he prepared for his workout.

"Reno broke his arm?" Elena's eyebrows shot up, concern coloring her thin voice.

"Yeah, he was being an idiot, as usual." Rude finished his stretching and stood beside the bench Elena sat on. "Are you going to spot me first or do I spot you first?"

"Spot me; I need to finish this rep." Elena lay back down with a smile, grasping the bar firmly.

Rude nodded and moved behind the bench, resting his hands under the bar. "Lift away, Elena."

Elena resumed the repitition Rude had interrupted with his not-so-subtle coughing. "So how did," she pushed the bar up, "Reno break his," she pulled the bar down, "arm?"

Rude smiled and held the weight for Elena, steadying her arms as she lifted. "Reno dropped him EMR out of the helicopter and decided to go get it before we could land."

Elena laughed and lifted, placing the bar back on the rack and sitting up. "How many times has that happened now?"

Rude shrugged and leaned on the bar, watching Elena as she sat up. "I've lost count." Really he knew that the answer was five, but he knew it would be tactful towards Reno to keep some of the ones where he hadn't broken bones between themselves.

Elena smiled and stretched, feeling her sore muscles flex with unremembered strength. "You should beat some sense into him."

"If you could beat sense into Reno, wouldn't a forty foot drop onto hard cement make him smarter?" Rude smiled and moved from behind the bar to take Elena's place on the bench.

Elena waited for Rude to take his position, setting her hands on the bar. "Yeah, that would make more sense, wouldn't it?"  
>"Yeah." Rude lifted easily, Elena's maximum weight hardly taxing his large muscles.<p>

"So what's Tseng doing about it?" Elena smiled and balanced the bar for Rude.

"He's punishing him for it now." Rude smiled and kept lifting.

"You mean Tseng is coddling him like a precious baby?" Elena giggled, hand held over her mouth to keep the laugh from echoing.

"No, I mean Tseng is probably giving him more bruises." Rude lifted the weight onto the bar as he finished his set. "He'll start coddling him in about a week."

Elena smiled and added weight to the bar. "So what are you doing with yourself while Reno is being babysat?"

"Looking for a new drinking buddy. Are you interested in filling the position?" Rude smiled up at her as she finished loading up his bar.

"Sure! I'll go drinking with you, it sounds fun!" Elena smiled and set her hands on the bar.

Rude grabbed the bar and pulled it down to his chest easily. "Wanna go tonight?"

"Sounds like a plan, Rude." Elena smiled.

"It's a date then." Rude lifted the bar rhythmically, smiling as he and Elena resumed idle chitchat.

Elena smiled and sat in Reno's regular chair, sipping a fruit-flavored something that had come with an umbrella that she now had tucked behind her ear. Rude had dark ale in hand as he listened to Elena, enjoying her slightly drunk and delicately blushing company. She had lost her inhibitions with him three drinks ago and he liked her better that way. She was fun to be around when she was sober, but she was even more fun when she was slightly inebriated; Rude had learned that tonight. She laughed more and smiled more and Rude found himself talking more. He had to admit, he hadn't known Elena very well and, as the night progressed, he was pleased to get to know her better. He had had his hesitations at first, but as more umbrellas were tucked into her hair he lost his anxiety about it.

Elena wasn't in love with Tseng like he had thought and she was actually just as capable at bitching about him as Reno was, in fact her tongue was even looser as she wasn't occasionally sleeping with their dark-haired slave-driver of a boss like Reno was. She had the tact to turn down the men who tried to get her to dance with them in favor of Rude's company and she stuck by his side all night despite the fact that he never once asked her to dance, not even when her favorite song came on. Rude was given an ego boost as she turned down more than one eligible bachelor who wanted to whisk her away. When her favorite song came on she didn't belt it out as loud as she could like Reno always did, instead she sang quietly under her breath and tried shyly to keep him form noticing; all attempts were in vain as Rude was hanging on her every word and movement.

When the conversation turned serious and personal, she didn't balk and turn away, she kept an open ear and asked polite and tactful questions and never pressed Rude for more information than he was willing to give away. She kept the conversation alive and two sided until Rude was no longer willing to discuss whatever topic he had brought up. Rude had to admit, he liked Elena more than he thought he did and he liked her more than each drink they took.

When Tifa closed the bar for the night and Rude went to pay the tab he was pleased that Elena contributed enough to cover her half of the drinks, something Reno did rarely if her ever contributed at all. When they got outside and Rude offered to cover the cab costs she refused to let him and they eventually found a compromise in her paying the distance to her apartment and him paying the distance to his apartment. Rude made the cab wait and walked her to her apartment door. "Tonight was fun, Lena, we should do it again."

Elena wasn't drunk, that much was clear as she could still walk and talk without much trouble, but she was far gigglier than normal, which made Rude smile as she giggled and fumbled with her keys. "Totally! It was great! We need to go out again tomorrow and the next day and the day after!"

"Maybe we should just stick with tomorrow night." Rude chuckled and tried to balance Elena's hand so she could stick her keys in the lock instead of scratching the doorknob to pieces.

"Okay, Rude!" Elena leaned against the door and tried hard to focus on the knob, her vision was becoming increasingly blurred as she started to get sleepy from the alcohol.

Rude helped Elena unlock her door. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, just need a door opening partner. I don't drink a lot." Elena giggled and pulled away from the wall, losing one of the decorative umbrellas from her hair. "We'll fix that though, right Rude? Every weekend from now until Reno's back!"

"Who says we have to stop hanging out together when Reno gets back?" Rude shrugged nonchalantly, setting a hand on Elena's back as she began tipping backwards. She didn't hold her liqueur well, but Rude figured that part of the problem was that she had been tired when she started drinking and he never lasted long when he was tired, so it made sense.

Elena looked up at him, brown eyes focusing shakily on his face. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it. You're more fun than Reno. Don't tell him I said it but it's true. You aren't embarrassing, loud, rude, or selfish. It's a nice change from years of putting up with Reno's crap." Rude smiled and did what he could to steady her, listening to the cab driver as he honked impatiently, obviously sick of letting the meter run for so long.

Elena smiled and tiptoed up to kiss his cheek gently. "You're sweet, Rude. Thanks for helpin' me get home. I'll definitely see you tomorrow, kay?"

Rude was shocked to find he was blushing at the gentle kiss but he managed to nod and keep from creating a long awkward pause. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Elena. Good night."

Elena shut the door with a giggle and Rude smiled, bending down to pluck the umbrella off of her welcome mat before walking back down to the cab. The cabbie frowned at him but Rude didn't care. He sat back in the seat and let the taxi take him home, hoping that he didn't just drunkenly imagine getting a kiss from Elena. He stared at the tiny paper and toothpick umbrella, smiling softly as he thought of the perfect way to determine whether or not tonight was real or not. He paid the cabbie and went into his apartment, sighing as he saw that Reno had slipped a tie over the doorknob. It was bad enough having to room with the man, it was worse when he brought their boss home for an all night romp session.

Rude opened the door, ignoring the tie completely. He lived here, paid three-fourths of the rent, and kept it clean and by the gods he was going to enter the apartment when he pleased. He slipped off his shoes, ignored the noises coming from Reno's room, and poured himself a glass of water in the kitchen. Tonight would be a long night if the noises from Reno's room were anything to judge by. Rude had a stash of sleeping pills above the fridge for just such an occurrence. He tipped two into his hand and took them and the water to his bedroom, the umbrella clenched between two fingers like a cigarette. He changed into bedclothes and took the pills, cringing as Reno or Tseng gave a particularly drawn out groan. He set the umbrella beside his cell phone on the nightstand and smiled as he lay back in bed. If the umbrella was there in the morning, he had a date that night. If it wasn't there, then he would have to remember what it was he did during his dream that made Elena agree to go out with him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I saw VVKiti's picture of Rude lifting weights and this was born.<strong>


End file.
